Need Advice on Broody Hen Sitting on Eggs

oldhenlikesdogs said:

Broody hens will lose weight while broody. If she's laying than she's not broody, she could be starting to go broody. Most sick hens won't lay eggs or if they do they won't be right, so if she's laying nice eggs they are probably fine. Certainly having a new person taking care of them can stress them out. Something might have caused a ruckus last night that caused her to get off the nest, so I would see if it's a problem again tonight.

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I haven't seen her green eggs the past day or two but she's been sitting on the other hens eggs! I let my girls out of the run today to roam the grassy backyard and enjoy the sun with me and little Nugget didn't come out of the laying box. It sound as if she's broody by what I'm hearing. She didn't get out last night, and she did come out for a little bit this morning though not very long.. Just to eat and drink and she ran around for a minute or two and then went back in the nest. I tried to get her up and to look under her but she just puffs up at watches me intently. I don't want to stress her out too much, she's already a nervous bird from being at the bottom of the pecking order I think.. Since I am new to this, can you explain to me what it means exactly to go broody (I only have hens, no Roos so we have no hatching eggs) and why haven't I seen any of my other hens behave this way? I do believe Nugget is the youngest of them all, perhaps this is her first summer season. All the hens took to me very quickly when we moved here and took over the flock so I have gotten to know each of them pretty well

Being broody is a hormonal phase. In many breeds of chickens it has been bred out of due to it causing a disruption in laying hens. So breeds bred for egg production often will no longer go broody but breeds like bantams which are mostly ornamental will still go broody on a regular basis.

A hen often requires no actual eggs to go broody. The natural procession is for the hen to lay an egg a day or every other day until she has an adequate clutch of eggs, usually 6-12. Then she proceeds to brood them. It's all fueled by hormones.

Our modern chickens are a bit messed up as far as doing it all naturally, because of all the breeding manipulation that has occurred over the decades. It's abnormal for them to lay so often and so many eggs but it's what breeding for production has managed to do.

So hens will go broody without even being mated or even having eggs to sit on. They will try to sit on anything they can and will protect their imaginary nest quite viciously sometimes.

I have had hens hatch out eggs and not want the chicks nor know what they are. Some have good instincts others don't. Many just want to sit because hormones are driving her to.

If no eggs or chicks are available the kindest thing to do is to break them by putting them in a wire bottom crate which doesn't allow them to sit tight and heat up which fuels the hormones. The hens underside cools off, after about 3 days she won't be broody anymore and will return to normal life. Though most likely in another 3-8 weeks she will be broody again.

Being broody is draining. They lose weight and muscle tone during it and often can become overrun with parasites like mites and lice. It also disrupts other hens, some will also go broody, others will halt laying, and there's also some squabbling with the broody and other members. So it's always best to break them if you don't plan to hatch anything.